Backpacking Around The World:
5 Top Tips
by Tom Mcloughlin*
A trip around the world is an incredible experience for anyone who is lucky enough to get the opportunity. Whether it is a gap year after school or just a backpacking trip in your later years, you will undoubtedly have a fantastic time.
However, it takes a lot of planning when going away for such a long period, especially as you will usually be visiting different countries, continents and cultures.
Below are
5 tips which, if followed, should keep you on the straight and narrow when you’re on the road and only having to worry about how to say ‘beer’ in the next country!
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1.
Pack Light
So many people think that they need to plan for every single eventuality when they’re filling their backpack.
The truth is that nearly every place you go you will find the necessities if you don’t already have them.
Go to Patagonia and you will find a warm jumper, go to a Thai island and you’ll find a snorkel – you don’t need to carry them around for a whole year!
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| 2.
Plan Your Route
One of the beauties of backpacking is the freedom you have. If you find somewhere you love then you can stay there for weeks on end.
Sometimes you’ll stumble across a place that isn’t to your taste and you can get out of there the next day.
However, it is important to have a general idea of where you want to go on your trip and some key dates of when you need to arrive in staple destinations. This will allow you to achieve the goals you set out to achieve and not leave you coming home after 12 months and a whole lot of money without seeing what you set out to see.
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3.
Have a Budget
It’s most likely that you’ll have saved a large amount of money to fund your around the world trip and it’s important you don’t blow it all in the first month!
Research the currencies of your destinations before you go away and try to get an idea of how much you can spend in each place
Of course, this needs to be flexible, but if you don’t have an idea then you might spend all your money in cheaper places like South East Asia and then have none left when you reach more expensive places like Europe. |
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Keep Money Safe
Following on from the last point, money is the lifeblood of your trip! Don’t carry large amounts of cash around with you as you risk being robbed and will also be moving from currency to currency fairly regularly.
It’s a much better idea to spread the risk, keep money in different bank accounts with different cards and in different forms e.g. travelers cheques, cash, cards etc
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5. Always Get Insurance!
Some people may be tempted to head out on their backpacking trip without
travel insurance as it’s more than likely that you won’t need it.
STOP! You never know what’s going to happen whilst you’re away. No matter how careful you are you can’t account for other people, whether it’s on foreign roads or doing extreme sports.
Some hospitals abroad refuse to provide healthcare until people have paid so it’s not worth leaving yourself in that position if something goes wrong on your trip.
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Obviously there’s much more to preparing for a great trip around the world, but following these few should put you on the right track to a once in a lifetime experience.
* Tom Mcloughlin writes
Backpacker Boy, a guide to the best places around the world to visit when travelling on a budget.
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